Why the difference? And why was your answer to question 2 as low as it was?

If, like more than 90% of the population, the answer to question 1 was significantly lower than that to question 2, then your beliefs may be limiting your true potential.

As a therapist, I frequently hear people say things like “things like that don’t happen to people like me”, “it doesn’t come easy”. With beliefs like this, the race is lost before the starting gun!

The problem is that many of these beliefs start in childhood. We inherit our sense of our place in the world from our parents, our family and our community, “people like us”. These beliefs then become self fulfilling… beliefs tend to be re-inforced if they appear to predict outcomes. People from poor backgrounds often remain poor because the evidence of their experience is that other people of their class or background also remain poor. The fact that occasional individuals buck the trend only serves to re-enforce the belief that it doesn’t happen to “people like us” because people who buck the trend are, by definition, different.

So, let’s look at some of the major beliefs that prevent people from realising their true potential.

“Wealth is bad” – money is the root of all evil. There is much corruption in the world, and it is easy to point to examples of people who have accumulated wealth and act out of greed. But there are many examples of wealthy philanthropy in the world, examples of wealth being used to enrich the lives of others. They’re just not so newsworthy!

“There is not enough in this world to go around” – the poverty mentality. Not enough food, not enough money. As a belief about the world, this often masks a belief about self, “… and I do not deserve/am not worthy of having a share of what there is”.

“People like me don’t get the breaks” – do any of these ring any bells? “People like me…” can mean any number of things. “People like me” who trust too much who are too nice, can also be associated with a belief that “Wealth is bad” and the good guys don’t get rich. “People like me”, working people, have to work hard for what we get, to put enough aside for our retirement is often associated with the poverty mentality,

So, what is holding YOU back from achieving your true wealth potential? The following exercise is designed to assist you
a).in identifying less than resourceful beliefs that may be holding you back and
b).in developing more empowering beliefs that can assist you in experiencing a life of increasing abundance.

1.Write down a key belief about yourself that appears to be holding you back in this way. Don’t analyse it, just write it down as it comes to you.
Example: I’m too nice to be wealthy
Rate your conviction in the truth of this belief on a scale of 1-7 where 1 is the belief is totally false, and 7 is absolute conviction.

2.Now write down 5 things that have to be true for that belief to be true.
Example:1.- Nice people do not get wealthy
2.- Only bad people get wealthy
3.- I am nice
4.- In order to get wealthy, I would have to be less nice
5.- I am not wealthy

3.Write down the opposite of that belief… make sure you write it in the positive. Take some time to think about this, as you will be working with this belief over a few days. Make it something you would like to believe and something that, if true, would mean that you would generate more wealth, that you will experience more abundance in your life.
Example: I am a nice person and nice people can attract wealth
Rate your conviction in the truth of this belief on a scale of 1-7 where 1 is the belief is totally false, and 7 is absolute conviction.

4.Now (you’ve guessed it), write down 5 things that have to be true for that belief to be true.
Example:1.- There is abundance in the world
2.- Nice people can generate wealth
and so on

5.OK, so now, write down 5 things that would follow were that new belief to be true
Example:1.-It is more rewarding to pursue being deserving of wealth than wealth itself
2.- To deserve wealth is to attract it
and so on

This is just a simple exercise to shake up your beliefs a little, to challenge that which keeps you fenced in. Robert Anton Wilson has suggested that “what the Thinker thinks, the Prover proves”. I want you now to keep a journal. Carry a small notebook with you every day for the next week and on the front-page write down your new positive belief. Then, at the start of every day, say to yourself “Just for today, I will believe that…(insert your new positive belief here)”. Say it with conviction, and certainty, just for today.

Do this each day for the next week, and each day record those occasions that each experience you have supports your new belief. Document all the supportive evidence that is consistent with the new, empowering, belief.

At the end of the week, revisit your old, limiting, belief and again rate your conviction in this belief on a scale of 1-7 where 1 is the belief is totally false, and 7 is absolute conviction. Do the same for the new positive belief. You are now in a position to decide which belief is the most preferable and most useful in your life.

About The AuthorArticle Copyright 2006 Adam Sargant.
Adam Sargant is a hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner living and working in the UK, and the author of “Unleashing your Millionaire Mind”, a hypnosis session available on CD and MP3 from http://www.hypnosisaudiocds.com/wealth-system-hypnosis.php designed to eradicate limiting belief and build an abundance mentality.